Night of the Creeps – Blu-ray Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

If you asked me what I thought of Fred Dekker before I watched the release of the Night of the Creeps Blu-ray I wouldn’t have been able to give you much of an opinion. However, having now seen the film, and realising that he was also the writer/director of Monster Squad, a number of Star Trek: Enterprise episodes, and Robocop 3 (even he’s not proud of that one), I have to say he might be one of my favourite directors.

Night of the Creeps is Dekker’s first time as a feature film director, but watching the movie you’d be hard pressed to tell. It’s sleek, stylish, has great effects, a brilliant cast, and a sense of fun that directors who have been working in the industry for decades sometimes fail to achieve.

Beginning in space, the film shows a battle on an alien spaceship, complete with little rubber space men and laser guns. During the fight a mysterious canister is ejected from the ship and crashes to the planet below them, Earth. Landing in a quiet American town in the 1950s, the canister is found by a college couple and the boy becomes infected by a strange parasite.

This opening sequence is brilliant. The alien spaceship is so completely different from anything else in the film, yet doesn’t feel jarring or out of place, and adds an extra layer of scope and scale to what could have been a fairly small story. Once the pod lands on Earth the film switches to black and white and evokes the feel of a 1950’s B-movie, complete with parking teens, radio announcers talking about an escaped mental patient, and said mental patient wielding an axe.

Following this frankly inspired opening the film jumps forward in time to the 1980s where it follows college students Chris (Jason Lively) and J.C. (Steve Marshall) as Chris decides to try and woo the beautiful Cynthia (Jill Whitlow). When Chris decides that the best way of doing this is to join a fraternity, he and J.C. get roped into performing a prank that requires them to steal a body. Sneaking into the college labs they discover the frozen body of the boy from the 1950s and let him out, unwittingly unleashing the parasites inside him upon the town.

The set up is silly and simple, two things that are definitely needed for a film as ridiculous as this. The characters don’t take themselves too seriously, J.C. seems determined to make everything into a joke, and they are content to have fun with their misadventures. Whilst the film isn’t an out and out dark comedy, the college students bring a level of levity and humour to the film that stops it going too far into the realm of horror.

Dekker would go on to release Monster Squad a few years later, and it follows a similar mix of humour, charm, and horror, though aimed at a younger audience. As such, if you enjoyed Monster Squad but have not seen Night of the Creeps you’ll very much feel at home here.

One of the best characters has to be Ray Cameron (Tom Atkins), a gruff and grumpy police detective who is haunted by events in his past. He brings a level of seriousness to proceedings, even having the darkest and most emotion filled scene of the film, yet also has some of the best comedy lines too.

‘I’ve got good news and bad news girls. The good news is your dates are here.’

‘What’s the bad news?’

‘They’re dead.’

 The zombie effects are top notch, with everything in the film being done practically by an incredibly talented team. Whilst some practical effects can age very quickly, a lot of the work in Night of the Creeps still looks great. The head bursting effects of the zombies are over the top and at times ridiculous, but they work so well because the film as a whole feels over the top and ridiculous.

There’s not really a moment of the film that feels slow or dull, and it was thoroughly entertaining throughout, especially when you spot the little cameo appearances from people such as Dick Miller, Greg Nicotero, and Shane Black. The script is punchy and witty, and the editing and music are perfect for a cheesy 80’s flick.

The Blu-ray presents the film in the director’s cut version, which boasts an extra scene of zombie killing action in a tool shed, as well as the original ending. The release does provide the alternative, theatrical ending in the extras, but it’s good that the film is presented in the way it was originally intended.

The Blu-ray also gives two commentary tracks that are both filled with great behind the scenes stories and insight, as well as behind the scenes documentary, and an interview with Tom Atkins who briefly discusses his career.

Night of the Creeps is an absolute gem of a film, one that I’m disappointed that I’d never seen before. The new release corrects that, giving not only the best looking version of the film on home release but a slew of extras that are more than worth exploring. A must have for any fan of horror, or the 80’s.


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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 1×12 – ‘Seeds’ – TV Rewind

Originally published on Set The Tape

After two weeks delving into the overall story of the season with Centipede and the mysterious Clairvoyant, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. takes a step back to adventure of the week, but brings a level of charm and fun to proceedings that has been missing for a while.

When a group of S.H.I.E.L.D. cadets at the academy fall foul of a mysterious assailant who uses a device to try to freeze them to death, Coulson (Clark Gregg) and his team are called in to get to the bottom of it. What’s surprising to the team, and the audience, is that it turns out that Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) and Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) are something of superstars in the science division.

Giving Fitz and Simmons the spotlight without making a thing of their obvious love for each other was a welcome change, and we actually get to see the two of them having a lot of fun. They both seem incredibly comfortable being back in the academy, and fit well into the roles as mentor-like figures for the younger cadets. If the show were to suddenly spend a handful of episodes just following the two of them at the academy, helping out the future agents, it would be a great little diversion.

It turns out that one of the victims of the ice attack, Donnie Gill (Dylan Minnette), orchestrated the entire event specifically to get Fitz back at the academy in order to get him to fix the power source for his machine. Whilst this isn’t the biggest or most shocking secret plan in the history of espionage fiction, it’s kind of brilliant in its simplicity. Fitz identifies with the young Donnie, and desperately want to connect with him and help him come out of his shell, so of course he helps him with his project. But the project is actually a secret weapon that Donnie and his friend Seth (Daniel Zovatto) plan to sell to the shady Ian Quinn (David Conrad).

Outside of the Fitz and Simmons focus the episode sheds a little more light onto the mystery of Skye (Chloe Bennet) and her past, in particular her connection to a failed S.H.I.E.L.D. operation in the past that led to several deaths. Not only did these developments put an end to Skye’s search for her parents, but hinted at some deeper mystery to her past that could tie her into more important plots.

The best things about this episode though are the sense that the show has finally started to spend a little money on its episodes, and it painted S.H.I.E.L.D. as a larger organisation in a better light.

Donnie’s weather machine looks great, especially on a television budget, and the team behind the scenes managed to make things look fresh and interesting. We get to see the bus in an action sequence that wasn’t just the camera shaking on the set whilst the actors threw themselves around feigning turbulance. We got to see the plane from the outside as it fought against the deadly storm. It might not seem like much, but after so many episodes of seeing the plane just flying from place to place it makes a difference to see something a little more spectacular happening.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. academy is also portrayed as a really nice place to be, which is a stark contrast to the hectic nature and cold personalities of the Hub. You can see the hope in the eyes of the staff and the students, you get a sense that they’re eager to become part of something bigger than themselves, something that stands for what’s right. We get a small moment of this when Coulson takes Skye to see the wall of fallen agents. It’s an inspirational moment, and even the nod to Captain America can’t ruin it when she just happens to pick out the name Bucky Barnes out of all of them to read.

‘Seeds’ is a very different episode from what has come before. It doesn’t appear to play into the central plot in any big ways, but doesn’t feel like previous adventure of the week episodes. It has a sense of comfortableness that comes from a series that has finally found its feet.


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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 1×11 – ‘The Magical Place’ – TV Rewind

Originally published on Set The Tape

After Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) is kidnapped by the villainous Centipede in the mid-season finale, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. slows down slightly a little as the team are forced to search for their missing leader in ‘The Magical Place’.

The episode sees the return of Victoria Hand (Saffron Burrows) leading the S.H.I.E.L.D. team as they try to track down Centipede and rescue Coulson. Hand makes for a good leader of the organisation in the absence of Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders). She represents the facelessness of the organisation, the rigid rules and unwillingness to break from protocol.

We see how much leeway Coulson’s team actually have in the way they are treated when he is no longer there. The team are allowed a lot of freedom and whilst their standard way of operating might end up well for them, it’s far from the norm for S.H.I.E.L.D.. This is no more obvious in Skye’s (Chloe Bennet) role in the episode.

Thrown off of The Bus, Skye is left to her own devices to try to find Coulson. Normally this might not be much of an issue for her, but she’s slowed down by her inability to use any tech thanks to her S.H.I.E.L.D bracelet. However, after 10 episodes, we get to see that Skye has finally learnt some spy skills.

The main season arc moves forward as more information about the mysterious Clairvoyant is teased. Sadly, with this still being halfway through the season, very few real answers are given here, though the story does seem to be finally advancing with a clearer narrative.

The episode ends with the surprise reveal that Mike Peterson (J August Richards) wasn’t killed in the previous episode, but is now being forced to work for Centipede with one of the eye implants first introduced in the episode ‘Eye Spy’. It’s good that Mike hasn’t been killed off as he’s one of the best characters in the show. His shift to working for the villains definitely produces some extra drama. It’s also a nice thing that the show didn’t hide this reveal for a later episode and actually gave us some information up front for once.

‘The Magical Place’ doesn’t so much as provide answers to the mystery behind Coulson’s resurrection as much as it just confirms suspicions. Hopefully now that the cat is out of the bag, the series won’t be as stingy with information as it has been up to this point. ‘The Magical Place’ continued on from ‘The Bridge‘ by giving the audience a much improved experience, embracing a larger narrative and decent character moments over adventure of the week stories.


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Dark Souls: Age of Fire #4 – Comic Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

Dark Souls: Age of Fire promised to give details on the past of the Dark Souls universe, to show readers insights into characters and places from the games. Despite a few issues showing promise towards this end by the time the final issue concludes it feels like a very hollow end product.

The artwork is, as ever, amazing with Anton Kokarev delivering stellar visuals. I’ve said it in previous reviews for the book, but Kokarev’s work could easily be turned into poster sized art, with any panel from the book worthy of being a framed piece of artwork.

Unfortunately, the writing in this issue feels like the weakest link. The finale should feel big and dramatic, yet this is one of the dullest of the series. Instead of the characters coming together to fight a giant foe, or even each other the majority of the book is people in suits of armour talking.

The series has given the readers great moments of story and lore exploration but book hasn’t gone into any real depth. The series touches on important events, yet doesn’t give them the time they need. Sadly, the final issue continues with this trend, focusing more on the characters than the world or the events. Whilst I’m never one to complain about getting more characterisation this isn’t really what people came to read the series for.

I don’t think that this is a choice that writer Ryan O’Sullivan has done intentionally, rather an editorial decision to try and maintain enough mystique around these big moments that they can be explored in future comics, novels, or games, depending on the company’s decision.

The final moments of the book reflect this, with no satisfying conclusion to end with. We’ve not had a huge amount of time with the characters of Dark Souls: Age of Fire but it would have still been nice to have had some kind of wrap up to their stories.

Dark Souls: Age of Fire is a story that promised to delve into some of the most iconic characters and events in the series history, but only really touches upon them. It feels like the company wants to expand their reach into comics, yet don’t want to commit to creating solid cannon, wanting instead the opportunity to tell these stories in more detail at another time. As such, the story lacks any real depth or weight.

Whilst fans of the series are sure to enjoy it the casual reader may feel dissatisfied with the conclusion.


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Vengeful – Book Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

'Magneto and Professor X. Superman and Lex Luthor. Victor Vale and Eli Ever. Sydney and Serena Clarke. Great partnerships, now soured on the vine.

But Marcella Riggins needs no one. Flush from her brush with death, she's finally gained the control she's always sought--and will use her new-found power to bring the city of Merit to its knees. She'll do whatever it takes, collecting her own sidekicks, and leveraging the two most infamous EOs, Victor Vale and Eli Ever, against each other.

With Marcella's rise, new enmities create opportunity--and the stage of Merit City will once again be set for a final, terrible reckoning.'

Coming into Vengeful having not read the first book, it is easy to purely be attracted by the interesting description and a wonderful cover – I know, you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover but this one is absolutely gorgeous. Normally I’ve found that jumping in half way through a story can be disastrous, especially when the writer assumes that you’ll have already read the first book, but V.E. Schwab seems to have kept this in mind and has written a book designed to draw you in straight away.

Telling the story of Victor Vale, an EO (Extra Ordinary) with the ability to manipulate both his nerves and pain receptors, and those in others, and his small group as they attempt to find a way of stopping his brief bouts of death. Victor is joined by an ex-con, a former soldier, and a young woman with the ability to revive the dead. This group, and the situation that Victor is facing, are a huge part of the carryover from the first book in the series, Vicious, but are explained in such a way that it’s easily accessible for new readers.

Schwab spends a good portion of the start of the book exploring these characters, their motivations, their histories. It makes it so that you can come into this story with no knowledge of the past events but still feel engaged and invested in what happens. I even had to go online and check which characters were actually part of the first book and which were new because everyone was given the same time and effort in their introductions and execution.

Also returning is Eli Ever, the ying to Victor’s yang. A character that would be easy to make absolutely evil, Eli is made much more sympathetic, especially when he’s being dissected whilst still alive over and over again.

The new characters added to the mix are very interesting too. There’s June, a young woman with the ability to copy people’s appearances. What makes her interesting, however, over other shape-shifting characters is that not only does she gain some of their knowledge and memories when she becomes them, but any injury that she receives when in another form happen to the original person rather than her.

Marcella is the other big addition to the universe, a woman whose mob husband beats her and leaves her to die in a burning building, but survives and develops her own EO powers. I really like her ability, able to cause things to rapidly break down, and her motivations are more than just simple vengeance.

Vengeful is a book about people with varying motivations and desires that occupy the area of grey between good and evil. The book doesn’t have any real heroes, and most of the bad guys are understandable in some way. The characters are complex and layered, rather than being two dimensional archetypes.

Schwab writes in short chapters, ranging from a handful of pages in length to a dozen at most, and they don’t follow a standard narrative structure, jumping between time and location. Instead of being off-putting or disruptive to the story it allows for deeper insights into characters, and means that Schwab is able to manipulate the way the story unfolds or how a reader will feel by messing with the standard narrative structure.


Vengeful is my first dip into the world of The Villains universe, and V.E. Schwab as a writer, and both have been much better than I was expecting. I not only enjoyed the book, but would highly recommend it to others. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to track down the first book because I’m excited to read more of this universe.


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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 1×10 – ‘The Bridge’ – TV Rewind

Originally published on Set The Tape

After a number of episodes that felt stand alone and unconnected, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. finally begins to show just what the series is capable of. This could be down to the fact that this was originally the mid-season finale and the show wanted to go into its break with a bang, but it’s more likely due to it actually starting to embrace more serialised sense of story, rather than an outdated ‘adventure of the week’ structure.

Centipede rears its head once again as Raina (Ruth Negga) returns with a mission to assist sinister scientist Edison Po (Cullen Douglas) in finding a way to stabilise their soldiers. In order for Coulson (Clark Gregg) and the team to stop them, they call upon the help of one of the newest agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the super-powered Mike Peterson (J. August Richards).

The return of Mike Peterson is one of the best things that the series did. He’s the first character to work with the heroes that actually has powers, which is something that a series set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been sorely missing. He’s also a better example of a regular person becoming a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent then Skye (Chloe Bennet). The two of them joined the organisation at pretty much the same time, yet where Skye has found it difficult to become a member of her team or know what her role should be, Mike has embraced his new life. He seems relatively happy, eager to be the best agent he can be and even aspires to become a hero like Captain America.

With how pleasant Mike comes across and his interactions with Coulson being some of the best in the season so far, it’s a shame that he didn’t the team in a full time capacity. Unfortunately, this was not to be as Mike is forced into betraying Coulson and the team in order to protect his son.

In what has to be one of the most dramatic moments in the series to date, ‘The Bridge’ ends with Coulson captured by the villains and Mike appearing to die in a huge explosion. Whilst this isn’t be biggest of twists (even by latter Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. standards) it is a bold choice going into the show’s first break.

This is the point the series really begins to change, where it starts to connect with the wider Marvel Universe, revealing that previous story threads were connected all along; and it introduces several exciting supporting characters. Suddenly the show has heard the complaints of its audience and has started to take things seriously.

The performances are all solid, though J. August Richards easily stands out. Skye will go on to become an amazing character as the show progresses, but at this point it really does feel like a shame that she was chosen as the entry character rather than Mike. Why not use Skye and Mike? If he was around as a regular for the first 10 episodes, the moment of his apparent death would have held much greater impact. As it is, the shock not as effective as it could have been.

The episode is far from perfect, but after some of the previous entries, it feels like a huge jump in quality. Sadly for many of those watching week by week when the show was first airing, many had already given up by this point.


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Dusty And Me – Film Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

Dusty and Me is the kind of film that you’d expect to find playing on a Sunday afternoon. It’s the tale of a misfit trying to find their place in the world, an animal sidekick, some bumbling bad guys, and nothing too offensive.

Derek ‘Dusty’ Springfield (Luke Newberry) is a young man returning home to Yorkshire after attending private school, waiting to hear if he’ll be accepted into Oxford University. Dusty is portrayed as something of a black sheep of the family, though this is less because of anything he’s done that could be considered particularly bad, but because he’s smarter than his family.

His mother Lil (Lesley Sharp) and big brother Little Eddie (Ben Batt) offer him support and encouragement, but he struggles to connect with his father Big Eddie (Ian Hart) or make new friends. However, this all changes when he takes on a disowned greyhound named Slapper.

This is where the film struggles to decide on the tone that it wants. At times it’s trying to be a comedy – and isn’t too bad at it – whilst also bombarding viewers with Dusty lamenting Slapper as his only friend. It seems to want to be a family-friendly comedy, but also wants to be something deeper and resonating. Unfortunately Dusty and Me isn’t original enough to be able to succeed at this. The awkward outsider finding their only friend in an animal has been done a number of times before.

The plot expands in expected ways when Slapper helps Dusty to become noticed by local girl Chrissie (Genevieve Gaunt), leading to a slightly awkward romantic sub-plot. When something bad happens to Slapper (in this case getting stolen) the rest of the cast come together to help rescue her.

Sadly, despite good intentions, Dusty and Me feels like it lacks any real originality and substance. Dusty feels less like an outsider and more an arrogant young man who believes that his intelligence makes him better than other people. He lacks any real development and the acceptance he receives later in the film comes more from people wanting to help Slapper than anything he’s earned.

The supporting cast are good, with some recognisable and likeable actors in the mix, but many are underused. Iain Glen in particular is one of the strongest actors in the cast, yet never feels like he’s being used to his full potential.

Dusty and Me has good intentions; it wants to tell an inspiring and uplifting story, yet lacks any real nuance, drama or real character growth.

The production design works well, recreating the 1970s pretty well. Where some films and television shows set within the period often feel drab and dull, with East is East and Life on Mars springing to mind as prime examples, Dusty and Me manages to be both colourful and bright. These design choices inject life into a time and setting that other projects often portray as somewhat depressing.


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Star Wars Resistance 1×03 – ‘Triple Dark’ – TV Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

Star Wars Resistance took it’s time setting up the world in its two-part season premier, spending a good portion of the episode introducing the new characters and the Colossus, but the third episode shifts the focus to Kaz (Christopher Sean) as he attempts to figure out just who he wants to be.

With it still being very early on in the season, and all of the regular characters being new creations for the show, the audience doesn’t have a good grasp on who people are yet, why they’re on the Colsus, what their motivations are, or how they feel about the Resistance and First Order. Triple Dark keeps the focus squarely on Kaz, with the other main cast members being featured very little, yet despite this it’s hard to get a feel of who Kaz might be.

This is in large part down to the fact that he doesn’t seem to know who he is himself. He wants to be a pilot and racer, he’s trying to be a mechanic, and he’s desperate to prove himself as a spy. Sadly, he doesn’t seem to be particularly good at any of these three things. It’s clear that the series is going to tackle this during the course of it’s run, and as with previous Star Wars television shows will give it’s characters room to grow and evolve but I couldn’t help but feel frustrated with Kaz in this episode.

He has no mechanical skills at all, but instead of informing Yeager (Scott Lawrence) of this and finding a work around or a way of him learning some skills he tries to guess his way through, with disastrous results. He’s not much better when he’s trying to be a spy either, if he’s not sneaking around the station like a loony tunes character and crashing into things he’s loudly talking about being on a secret spy mission in front of people.

Fortunately the episode picks up in its second half when the titular triple dark storm hits the station, allowing a fleet of pirate ships to attack. The pirates are a great bunch of characters with some brilliant designs. Led by the vicious looking Quarren Kragen Gorr (Gary Anthony Williams) the pirates include a Trandoshan, and someone wearing looted original trilogy Stormtrooper armour. The group is visually exciting and make for an interesting group of antagonists for the series. The revelation that they’re working for the First Order in an plan to make the citizens of the Colossus willing to let the First Order take over the station to stop the pirates is an interesting plan, one that feels very much in the vein of Palpatine working both sides of the Clone Wars.

The pirate assault gives the audience some fun action as the ace pilots engage in a dog fight in order to stop them, revealing that the racers are more than just recreational pilots, but also the main defence for the station. The attack also gives Kaz the opportunity to shine and save the day. Rather than going for the obvious choice of having him get in a ship and join the fight the writers have him use his intelligence to force the pirates to break off their assault, all while keeping his involvement a secret. The first real indication that he might actually be cut out as a spy.

Triple Dark feels more like an episode of two half than the double length premier, with the first half of the episode unsure of the tone that it wants to capture and offering little in the way of story or character development. Thankfully the second part of the episode picks up in quality and delivers an interesting and engaging story, as well as introducing a brand new faction.


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PlayStation Classic – The other 15 games we’d like to see

Originally published on Set The Tape

It’s an exciting time for fans of the original Sony console with this week’s announcement of the PlayStation Classic. We know it will have 20 pre-loaded games accompanying it, but only five have so far been revealed: Final Fantasy VII, Ridge Racer Type 4, Tekken 3, Jumping Flash and Wild Arms.

There are hundreds of games that Sony could potentially pick from for the remaining 15 titles, many of which are amazing games. Here’s the 15 that we would love to see.

Metal Gear Solid

Not just one of the best games on the Playstation, but perhaps one of the greatest of any console ever. It introduced thousands of fans to the Metal Gear universe and Solid Snake. A game that, at times, feels more like watching a movie, with so much dialogue it could fill a novel; it’s packed with great characters, over-the-top action, epic boss fights, and a story that will keep you entertained for hours.

Resident Evil

The mother of all survival horror games, Resident Evil is still an entertaining play, despite the clunky controls and awful dialogue. With the series still going strong today, two series of movies, novels and manga, this is a universe that is far from being done. Not only is this game worth including as an all time great, but there are still a lot of younger gamers who haven’t experienced the original. This would be the perfect opportunity for them to see where it all began.

Crash Team Racing

Sony’s attempt at Mario Kart, Crash Team Racing was never big enough to warrant a sequel, but it’s still one of the most popular racing games on the console. Whilst I would usually include Crash Bandicoot itself on this list, I’m not going to because of the recent remaster (same for Spyro), but as Crash Team Racing wasn’t a part of that remaster, I think it’s about time the game got another shot in the spotlight.

Final Fantasy VIII

I get why Final Fantasy VII is on the console, it’s the one in the series that is supposed to be the best (I personally disagree). With Nintendo having just announced a whole host of Final Fantasy content coming to the Switch, including VII and IX, the only main Final Fantasy game from the PlayStation not getting a new release is Final Fantasy VIII, and this is unacceptable. With the much improved graphics over VII, the cast of interesting characters, a more complex story that still has fans debating two decades later, and a much more enjoyable gameplay experience, it’s the perfect choice to be part of this package.

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver

Not the first game in the Legacy of Kain series, but it is probably the most well known. The game that revitalised and relaunched the sprawling and complex game series, as well as introducing new protagonist Raziel, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver is one of the darker, more complex action adventure games on the PlayStation.

Vagrant Story

One of the most popular Role Playing Games on the console, Vagrant Story is often also cited as one of the best. With its shift in focus from traditional RPG elements such as NPC interaction and buying supplies from shops and traders to puzzle solving and weapon creation, Vagrant Story presents what was a fairly unique PlayStation experience. With copies of the game costing around £30 second hand, this new console could be the first chance for a lot of people to play it, if included.

Dino Crisis

Dino Crisis wasn’t a long lived franchise (existing between 1999 and 2003) but whilst it was around, it was damn good. Taking a lot of elements from Resident Evil, but shifting the focus from mutant monsters and zombies to dinosaurs, the game added a whole new dimension to the survival horror experience. The series may have shot itself in the foot with Dino Crisis 3 but there’s still a lot to love about the original.

Silent Hill

Other survival horror games rely on deadly enemies and jump scares to keep people frightened. Silent Hill went for atmosphere and psychological horror instead. Set within the fog-shrouded mountain town of Silent Hill, the game puts players in the shoes of a desperate father looking for his lost daughter, a story that will send you into Hell itself and spawn one of the most popular game series around.

Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2

I was never really into skating as a teenager, it didn’t really appeal to me, but I loved Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2. It was fun and challenging, offering new players an engaging experience, whilst allowing the more experienced experts further challenges. Its ability to appeal to players from a broad range of skills, its variety of courses, and the challenge of trying to unlock Spider-Man as a skater made it one of the best sports games on the console.

Resident Evil 2

Resident Evil 2 proved that a sequel can improve upon the original in every way. It shifted the action from a confined mansion to an entire city, brought in new monsters, new characters, and an expanded story, all whilst improving the controls and gameplay. With the added bonus of an A and B scenario for both main characters, plus two additional unlockable modes, Resident Evil 2 would add hours of gameplay to the new console. The fact that the remake is fast approaching would also mean that a lot of gamers would get the chance to re-experience the original before the update.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

A bold reinvention of a series already a decade old upon its release, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night changed a lot of the series staples, shifting the protagonist from the vampire hunting Belmont’s to Alucard, son of Dracula, adding a new loot system, non-linear exploration and a whole host of new enemies. Often cited as one of the high points of the franchise, it’s still an incredibly enjoyable and challenging game.

Wipeout 2097

Swapping cars for super fast flying vehicles of the future, the Wipeout series is still one of the best racing games around. Making what can often be a repetitive and boring genre into something fresh and exciting, Wipeout 2097 upped the ante on previous entries in the series, adding a new interface, weapons and stages, all accompanied by a techno soundtrack. It’s a racing game guaranteed to appeal, even to those who don’t usually enjoy the genre.

Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee

A puzzle solving platform game set within its own uniquely bizarre world, Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee put players in control of Abe, a Mudukon slave worker escaping captivity when he discovers his people are about to be used as food. A strange game, with some weird gameplay, it nevertheless offers a fun and different platforming experience.

Parasite Eve II

Based upon a popular Japanese novel of the same name, Parasite Eve was a genre hybrid that blended together action RPG and survival horror. Following New York City cop Aya Brea as she tries to stop an entity named Eve from destroying humanity, the game added interesting new features such as real-time battles and the ability to target particular body parts. Clearly having inspired other games with its infusion of RPG progression systems into a survival horror framework, Parasite Eve II is an often overlooked classic.

Tomb Raider II

Whilst the first Tomb Raider game is the one that sparked the entire franchise, it’s not the best one on the PlayStation with that title instead falling to the sequel. Tomb Raider II expanded on different aspects of the original, but managed to refine many of the issues. Controls were made smoother, combat enhanced, better puzzle solving was added, exploration and environments were improved, and both the story and characters were better. A peak in the series for many years, it deserves its place on the new console.


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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 1×09 – ‘Repairs’ – TV Rewind

Originally published on Set The Tape

With the first season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. close to its midway point the show should have found its feet by now and should really know what kind of show it wants to be. Sadly, ‘Repairs’ continues to be a fairly lacklustre adventure of the week that fails to impress.

The main problem with this episode is that the tone feels skewed, trying to mix together the humour of Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) and Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) deciding to prank Skye (Chloe Bennet) as the new girl on the team with the past trauma that Agent May (Ming-Na Wen) has experienced. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has always done a good job of combining together humour and more serious elements, but this particular episode feels like a large misstep.

Whilst we have yet to be told, or shown, what exactly happened to May in her past, we know that it was traumatic enough to make her give up on field work and shut herself off from other people. The event must have been something traumatic to have this kind of effect, yet Fitz and Simmons seem to find it something appropriate to joke about. It’s bad enough that they’re making up stories at the expense of someone else, but to do so with something that was deeply damaging to someone they regard as a friend just makes them look like jerks.

The main mystery of the week isn’t too inspiring either, with the focus being on a young woman named Hannah (Laura Seay) that appears to be displaying telekinetic powers. As the episode unfolds we learn that she is actually being stalked by Tobias Beckett (Robert Baker), a man that was obsessed with Hannah before being caught in an experimental explosion that has caused him to become trapped between dimensions. Shifting between this world and an alien reality, Tobias acts somewhat like a ghost, able to disappear and reappear at will.

The concept isn’t bad, but it’s not especially well executed. Instead of making the most of the concept the episode appears to have been reduced to a bottle episode, with all of the major action beats and plot points taking place within the confines of the S.H.I.E.L.D. plane. With power out on the ship the team are reduced to sneaking their way through darkened corridors with very little sense of where they actually are within the structure. For a set that’s used so often it’s hard to get a real sense of the layout or scale of The Bus.

‘Repairs’ also doesn’t seem to know what to do with Skye or Coulson (Clark Gregg). The team leader is pushed to the side, stuck at being reactive rather than proactive. The show also seems to have admitted that it doesn’t know what it’s doing with Skye, reducing her role on the team to being nice to people. There are a few moments that are quite good in the episode despite the many flaws it seems to be suffering from, while Iain De Caestecker and his terrified scream at his own mop prank is quite amusing.

It’s easy to see why the early days of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. had trouble keeping viewers when it was producing episodes that misfired as much as this one. Sadly, it took the first season a long while to find not just its tone, but its overarching narrative. Things do get better, especially when the series falls into line with the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier but at this point the show is very much treading water.


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